


*technically we didn't break the rules

by RangerLexi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25488247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerLexi/pseuds/RangerLexi
Summary: James and Sirius find a loophole in the school rules.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	*technically we didn't break the rules

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first ever fanfic so I'm really sorry if I tag it wrong or smthn. based on this pin: https://pin.it/5lFihGC, probably someone else has written the prompt before but I wanted something short and sweet to dip my toes into the waters of this website.

McGonagall finished up her notes and wrote a crisp “E” at the top of the paper. Before she could pick up the next paper, there was a rap on the door.

“Come in,” she said curtly, glancing at the clock. At this time of night, the only people who would be knocking on her door were Filch and a couple of the other professors. And Filch would only be knocking if a student was out past curfew--McGonagall would bet her last Galleon that if Filch walked in in the next five seconds, Potter, Black, Lupin, and/or Pettigrew would be behind him. 

She would have won that bet.

“Mr. Filch, what brings you here at this time of night?”

Filch looked triumphant, as he always did when he caught his least favorite students breaking the rules. However, the two fourth-years beside him looked rather triumphant themselves.

“Caught these two breaking the rules, ma’am,” Filch began, but James cut him off.

“Professor McGonagall, I don’t mean to be rude to dear Mr. Filch here, but we were not, in fact, breaking a rule.”

“Not true, ma’am. I caught them out of bed, past curfew, ma’am,” Filch sputtered.

With a wide grin, Sirius countered, “Au contraire, my friend. We were in bed.”

McGonagall fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, you had better have an excellent explanation for this.”

Sirius took a step forward. “The rules explicitly state that no student except prefects may be out of bed past curfew.”

“Nowhere,” James continued his train of thought, “does it say that the beds may not be moved out of the dormitories.”

_ Merlin’s britches, _ McGonagall thought, with a stifled laugh. Filch was turning purple.

“They were levitating the beds,” he burst out. “They were levitating the beds through the corridors.”

She couldn’t decide whether to sigh in exasperation or burst out laughing. She settled on giving a glare to each boy in turn--they weren’t nearly as terrified by the glance as she would have liked, but they did sober up a bit--then fixing her gaze on Filch. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Argus, I’ll take care of it.”

He looked like he was about to protest, but her glare nullified his resistance. Muttering something under his breath, no doubt about dirty, disobedient children, he stormed out.

James and Sirius exchanged a glance when they didn’t think she was looking. McGonagall cleared her throat.

They both stood at attention. She let the silence drag out a bit, keeping them waiting, before sighing. “You boys are quite the handful, you know that?”

James not-very-carefully hid a smirk. “Technically, we didn’t break the rules.”

“I suppose your beds are still in the corridor where Filch found you?”

They both nodded.

She sighed again. “I’m half-tempted to make you sleep there.”

“Professor, I urge you to check your rulebook. There is no rule against what we did,” Sirius said, doing better at hiding his mirth than James.

“I’m sure there isn’t, you two aren’t  _ quite _ idiotic enough to not check the rules first.” If sighing caused death, she would have died a trillion times over interacting with these two. “Go put your beds back in the dormitory. Don’t do it again.”

“Of course, Professor,” they chorused, no longer hiding their grins. 

She waved her hand to shoo them out the door. She was pretty sure she could hear their delighted laughter and the slap of a high five before the door was fully shut.

McGonagall sat back in her chair.  _ Those boys will be the death of me. _ On a slip of parchment, she wrote herself a reminder:

_ Tell Albus in the morning we need to edit that rule. _


End file.
